copper pipe and vibration

Chrysler300

Hi all;

I have a 50 year old copper pipe embedded in cement hydronic system and I have never seen

an answer to my question. Would the vibration from a washer or dryer (sitting on hydronic floor system) affect my old pipes? So far I only have to make up water once every 9-12 months and very little at that. I am new to this type of heat (always had forced air) and several plumbers said not to worry your pipes will fail from corrosion before they fail from vibration.

Nice to know…but does anyone have an opinion? I'm probably overcautious but I hate to put ANY unnecesary stress on my copper hydronic system if I dont have to. I checked prior posts but could not find any on this subject. Thanks in advance from a newbie!

mattmia2

The concrete is a solid mass around the pipe, the slab will vibrate as a whole as much as the washer can do so. The expansion and contraction of the copper while constrained by the concrete will put far more stress on the pipe than the washer will. If the concrete were crumbling it might be a different story but as long as it is more or less intact the washer won't affect the pipe. Like the plumbers said, systems like this usually fail from chemicals in the concrete or soil attacking the pipe and how long that takes has a lot to do with the materials that were used for the concrete and the local soil conditions.

Jamie Hall

Short answer, no. Longer answer.in addition to @mattmia2 's comment on corrosion —the concrete will crack long before the copper is affected in any way. And even longer answer: if the washer is vibrating badly, find out why…

PC7060

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1861194#Comment_1861194

The high efficiency units spin at high speed and can really shake things up.